HOLLYWOOD, Fla. - Authorities in South Florida have announced that they've finally solved 1981 killing of a little boy whose father later gained fame as the host of "America's Most Wanted."

Hollywood police said Tuesday that a man long considered the lead suspect in 6-year-old Adam Walsh's murder has finally been conclusively linked to the crime.

But it came too late. The accused, a serial killer named Ottis Toole, died in prison more than a decade ago.

Toole had confessed to the killing, but later recanted. He claimed hundreds of murders, but police determined most of the confessions were lies. Toole's niece told the boy's father, John Walsh, her uncle gave a deathbed confession to the crime.

The boy went missing from a Hollywood mall on July 27, 1981. Fishermen discovered his severed head in a canal 120 miles away two weeks later. His body was never found.

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Information from The Associated Press